Well, I'll be the odd one out on this one. My kids both started going to the nursery when they were about a month old. Sorry, I know, I am a bad mom, but they did fine.

Aww, don't say that!

I wish the nursery workers we had when DD was that age were trustworthy enough for me to leave her! However, it really never has been a possibility for me because DD has never taken a bottle. Heck, she's never even SEEN a bottle! LOL And we feed on demand, so it's not like I could schedule her to not be hungry during church, KWIM?

Our church doesn't have a nursery(my MIL says they don't believe in having them in this church) and there are tons of families with young kids to older kids as well. All kids stay in the service with their parents, however, this past year they've been doing a kids session when the kids pre k thru 4th grade go to another room for a kids lesson...bible story. But we do have what they call a cry room. And that is where you can still see and hear the service but it is a sound proof room where you can sit with your little ones and they can play, eat,nurse or what ever. My 3 yr old usually takes a catnap in mine or dady's arms during the sermon and is upbeat and happy for the music! We hardly ever use the cry room.

ETA:
We did visit another church and left our son in the nursery, he was over a year old. He was crying so much and the church staff didn't know who we were or where we were sitting to find us (and he was only in there for like 10 minutes when I went in to check on him). They have now invested in the pager system because of my child. We've gone back a few times and he just stays with us...but then again he's too old for the nursery and is very clingy with dh and I.

For me it just feels un-natural to be in a service without my youngest...I'm so used to having him with me, it would just feel weird if he wasn't there.

I did go to a friends baptism without dh or my son(they were sick) and it felt so weird sitting there without my son in my arms.

I have't yet, but DH does when I don't make it to church. Not that I'm happy about that, but honestly, Jackson does fine. He LOVES people and they adore him as well. We have a small nursery setting though too.

I will probably start leaving Jack soon. I'll take him into church with us and when he gets fussy (wants to play/get down) I'll take him into the nursery. So he'd be there about 30 minutes tops.

They give us silent pagers. So if they fuss, they can just page the mama and she can come quickly. Plus, if I tell them to page me, they will.

__________________Tiffany, Mama to the incredibleJM (3.25.06), NC (7.28.10) and EH (9.23.13)We don't vaccinate, we kept our sons intact, we use cloth diapers, we co-sleep, we extended RF, we breastfeed, but we watch too much tv and I totally dig plastic! Everyone has their issues, lol.

there is absolutely no issue with her being so attached to you...it means that she has a wonderful, strong bond, and for others to think negatively about it is wrong. My ods was very independant and has always done fine in settings where others watch him...so I put him in at about 6mos...but he was also being formula fed, ect...and they had a number assigned to each child so that if the child needed the parent's attention or whatever they would light up your number in the sanctuary where the sermon was taking place. Ultimately you have to choose when it's right for you and dd...if you are worried about her the whole time, what are you going to get out of the sermon anyway? might as well not even go imo! if you have to sit through the service concerned about her choking, crying ect...kwim?

I wish the nursery workers we had when DD was that age were trustworthy enough for me to leave her! However, it really never has been a possibility for me because DD has never taken a bottle. Heck, she's never even SEEN a bottle! LOL And we feed on demand, so it's not like I could schedule her to not be hungry during church, KWIM?

Mine didn't take bottles either, they came and got me when it was time to nurse - yes, I would be on the platform leading worship and one of the ladies would stand in the back and wave until I saw her - we had no schedules!

I have a 2 year old little girl that LOVES other "babies".....HOWEVER.....EVERY SINGLE TIME I have dropped her off in the nursery (which has only been about three times) she has gotten sick the next day

I am a FREAK about my kids getting sick from other kids....I know...I know... they are gonna get sick but there is nothing I cannot STAND more than people who drop off their kids to the nursery and they have boogies running down to their chin and they are hacking all over other kids....grrrr

As far as my youngest (almost six months old)...I have NEVER left him in the nursery...he is EBF and I just assume to keep him with me than to have a bunch of people or other babies all over him and getting him sick (again, the wierd "germ" thing I have)

I actually just got realllllllllllllllllly mad at my half-sister as her two year old is ALWAYS sick....I swear that kid has a perma-cough!!! She is sooooooooo frustrating!! She actually doesn't think twice about him coughing all over my kids and others. IN fact, when I told her that my kids just got the same cough and horrid runny nose that her son had she just responds "oh....well, its good for kids to get sick and build up their immunities"...grrrrrr

Wow reading some of these responses I feel really blessed to have a church like mine.

See, I was afraid I was making my church out to not look so good. I actually really love my new church and they've never made me feel any pressure to take DD to the nursery. They just ask me about it and I read way too much into things then I automatically think that they think I'm a freak! LOL My old church, however, did give me lots of pressure and made very blunt and rude comments about how I chose to parent my kids.

As far as the nursery goes at my church, it's really not bad. It's just that all of us mothers have different beliefs on how to raise kids and that tends to muddy things up in the nursery a bit. Just like the cheerios and how long a baby should cry before a mom being paged, etc etc. I'm basically the only AP mama at my church so I'm probably the only one who has a problem with the nursery, kwim?

However, we're having a nursery workers meeting next saturday so I think I'll be bringing up some of my issues with them. Not to say that I'll be leaving Presley there anytime soon, but that has more to do with us than with them!

when i went, i never put my son in there...
i used to go help w hen my grandma was one of the workers, then they all moved and i went to anoter church with my grandma after i lived tere when i had my son and it was the pastors daughter thats younger than i am who was the worker... he was being kinda jumpin around my lap and climbing on me but people thought itwas cute. my grandma freaked the couple times i nursed him in the service (its a tiny church and she kept trying to insist i stick him in there...no.) but then she freaked out cause i was sitting and my uncle (aunts husband) saw about 2 inches of my back when i was sitting on the living room floor and then i was nursing my son as well, and she tried to make me wear one of my grandpas long button up shirts when he came over..umm..another WHY? hes my uncle. if hes looking at me like that, theres more to the issue than my needing to cover up, kwim?

i got way off te church thig but ugh...
and yeah, i dont trust that id be gotten when he needed me, i dont trust that he wouldnt freak out, i dont like that "well he needs to be away from you sometime!" i literally didnt let anyone hold him until he was 4 months old, and still les than 20 people have and hes 21 months! im majorly paranoid and dont like people touching all over my kid, i dont like that they let the kids just eat and drin other peopoles stuff, i dont trust someone to not give him formula, or not caer if he took someone elses cup with it...
okay, im done, and i dont have this issue right now because i dont go right now but well....ugh.

I'm basically the only AP mama at my church so I'm probably the only one who has a problem with the nursery, kwim?

However, we're having a nursery workers meeting next saturday so I think I'll be bringing up some of my issues with them. Not to say that I'll be leaving Presley there anytime soon, but that has more to do with us than with them!

It sounds to me like it would be a really great idea to discuss it with them! I do leave my kids in our nursery (rotation, etc, sounds very much like your church) and my 15 mo old has some major separation anxiety at times but we talk him through it and have decided that even if he cries some of the time we're gone, it's something we want to establish as a positive situation and we know he's being well loved and cared for since we know all the people who work in there. And they will come and get us if we ask. The workers (my friends) also usually really enjoy the time playing with him.

THAT SAID... if you aren't interested in leaving her (which it sounds like you're not!) then I think it's way easier if you explain that outright. I know that I have been confused at times with other parents who are new to the church whether they don't want to leave their kids because they don't want to be a burden (esp if they cry), or whether they really don't want to. It's super helpful for me or others as we interact if they say, "We really prefer to keep him/her with us during the service, but thanks!" Then I know not to bring it up again, know what I mean?

Every parent has to make that decision on their own, and if you and your husband agree that you prefer to keep her with you, then share that openly and I bet you'll get a lot fewer comments. Especially if you don't make it sound like it's an issue with the workers, etc.... even if that is part of your hesitation.